Room 202 integrates the arts, language, math, science, and social studies in integrated disciplinary units!  These beautiful pastel portraits represent "rock art."  We learned about local rock formations made out of chert, serpentine, and graywake!.  We learned how the formations were created through subduction of the tectonic plates.  We learned about tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanoes.  We also learned that ancient people painted using rocks, rock pigment mixed with liquids.  Then we "painted."  Enjoy!

Marching along the Fairy Trail to the summit of Mount Sutro we heard the chatter of red-masked parakeets and third graders yelling "bread and butter" redundantly on the myriad switchbacks!

We kicked off the school year with a study of our solar system.  We visited the planetarium, read the Magic Schoolbus Lost in the Solar System, and wrote amazing reports on planets, comets, black holes and the demoted dwarf planet, Pluto too.  We made the 8 phase lunar cycle out of chocolate cream cookies.  Yummy!  Can you name each phase? 

Atoms, atoms, everywhere!  Room 202 learned about atoms at an electricity and magnetism workshop at the Randall Museum in the fall.  Can you spot the swiftly orbiting electrons circling the protons standing still in the center of the atom?  There are two of each.  Do you know what element that must be?  We also made circuits and static electricity!  It was a hair-raising event!

In October and November we read stories and learned more about different cultural traditions from America, Mexico, Russia, India, West Africa, and other parts of the world.    We learned about textiles from the West Coast of Africa; mud cloth from Mali, and Adninkra cloth from Ghana.  Art, language, social studies and math merged as we applied our mathematical vocabulary to make designs inspired by mud cloth.  Our geometry vocabulary sure came in handy.    We etched in white chalk angles, points, line segments, rays, and lines.  Then we learned about the meaning of symbols on traditional Andinkra cloth and came up with a few of our own symbols as we designed quilts that represented our personalities. 

Welcome to Room 202, third grade at Grattan Elementary School.